Bathtub Drain Odor - Nothing works! on Yedda - People. Sharing. Knowledge.

Bathtub Drain Odor - Nothing works!

I have a strong urine odor coming up through our guest bathtub drain. We are in a one-story home. I poured several gallons of bleach and let it soak each time, followed by hot boiling water. I have tried baking soda and vinegar. We had two plumbers out. One snaked the line and the other checked the seal on the toilet. Nothing is working and

we need help. The odor is awful. The drain works well and no mud came up on the snake. It was clean.

Posted Answers

Order by

Post Date
votes

chris

186 answers

40 thumbs up

the trap is used to prevent gases and odours from the waste pipes from coming into your home, i would look to make sure you have a trap and if you do is it broken or cracked allowing the water in the trap to leak out letting the gases to leak into your home

Posted 6 months ago ( permalink )

In reply to Neilium's question

chris was invited by Yedda to answer this question.

Rated as
#1 out of 3

Report Abuse

Helpful?

Neilium

0 answers

Thanks for answering. Two plumbers have said the trap is fine. One snaked it and found nothing. The line is too small for their camera. To check it is tough. The only way to do that is to pull out the tub and go into the slab. The kicker is that the odor isn't a sewer smell. it is a strong urine type smell. It only comes up if the shower is used.

We had a master plumber out this week. He thinks water has gone through the pipe holes in the marble backing and has soaked into the sheetrock behind. His take on it is that it's the smell of water damage and he wants to gut the shower/tub for $3800. My problem with that is that running water in the tub causes the smell from inside the drain. If we duct tape the drain the smell isn't there.

Posted 6 months ago ( permalink )

In reply to Neilium's question

Rated as
#2 out of 3

Report Abuse

Helpful?

chris

186 answers

40 thumbs up

unfortunately, it sounds like something inside your walls getting wet and eminating this odor. i talked to another person who agrees with the master plumber that something is getting wet when the water drains out. the person i talked with says that certain types of wood, after aging, can emit strong odors when wet. if your home is an older home, this couldbe it. sorry but thats the best i can do.

Posted 6 months ago ( permalink )

In reply to Neilium's question

chris was invited by Yedda to answer this question.